Teacher's Resources: Teacher's Guide

Teacher's Guide: Hints for the Active Learning Questions

History1. Timelines should include both internal developments, such as the 1935 Nuremberg Law, and external developments, such as the 1939 invasion of Poland; you might want to list these two categories of developments in separate parts of the timeline.

3. For students who choose activity (a), biographical material on Dunbar and more of his poems can be found at the Paul Laurence Dunbar website hosted by the University of Dayton. Students who choose activity (b) might want to discuss such individuals as Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Marion Jones, and Tiger Woods.

Economics1. As part of this activity, students may wish to research what has been termed "sudden wealth syndrome," or the unexpected difficulties some people face when they acquire a large sum of money.

Civics2. To prepare for the class discussion, you might have the class create a calendar showing all the holidays and other special commemorations they can find, from Veterans' Day to Earth Day.

3. You might start this activity by asking students to contrast Louis's statement that "Might be a lot wrong with America but nothing Hitler can fix" with Ali's statement that "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong." (Students should be encouraged to consider the differences between World War II and the Vietnam War in such areas as the circumstances of U.S. involvement in the war and the degree of domestic support for the war.) In addition, you might ask students to consider their reaction if the military draft existed today and a prominent athlete who was called up to serve in Iraq refused to do so.

Geography2. To help students think about these issues, you might discuss as a class the broader context of the Louis-Schmeling rivalry, such as the Great Depression in the United States, the long history of discrimination against African Americans, the rise of Nazism in Germany, and growing U.S.-German tensions.

3. Students who have chosen artists should include examples of the artist's work in their presentation, such as an audio excerpt for a musician or a text excerpt for a writer.